What exactly is Us?
by raspberryslushie
Summary: It's the progression of Jaria's kiss during 2x09. It's how I would have liked it to have gone. T for a couple of swear words.


"Look I hope I didn't step out of bounds earlier, I really was trying to help."  
"No you didn't. I just have a lot going on right now so.."  
"The truth is, I do care about your brother but I also care about you. And.. I wanted to tell you on the off chance that you might feel the same way." Jason stepped closer to Aria. Taking her chin in his right hand, he lifted up her lips to meet his as he leant in to kiss her. She kissed him back although the kiss didn't last long. Aria pulled back surprised at herself for letting herself kiss Jason back while she was in a relationship with Ezra. She sighed as she told him she couldn't do it.  
"Why not?" Jason asked as he furrowed his brows at the petite girl he had just shared a kiss with.  
Aria looked round worried that someone may have seen them. "I'm.." Aria sighed again. "I have a boyfriend." she told him as she licked her lips looking up at him with sympathetic eyes.  
Jason sighed and took a step back. "Well I'm sorry for what I just did.." he told her as he backed towards his convertible car.  
"No Jason wait." Aria called as he opened his cars door. Jason turned round. Aria rushed towards him and reached to meet his lips in another kiss. This one being more passionate. Jason closed his door and sat on it as he pulled Aria closer. Aria ran a hand through Jason's silky hair as she felt his tongue enter her mouth. For once she felt superior to Jason as she was 'taller' than him at this point. Aria pulled back and looked down at him.  
"You have a boyfriend?" Jason questioned her as he looked at her with a dazed look on her face. "Why would you kiss me again?"  
"Maybe because for once in a long time I actually felt as if the person kissing me actually cared and wasn't just kissing me because he felt obliged too. I liked it. I liked it a lot."  
"What does that mean for us? I mean if there is such a thing as an 'us'?"  
"Give me a little time to think." Aria told him as she stepped back.  
"Take all the time you want." Jason told her as he stood up and got into his car.  
Aria smiled as she wiped the corner of her mouth with the pad of her thumb.  
"Did you want a ride home?"  
"I'm okay but thank you."  
Jason smiled and drove off.

Aria went home to eat her cupcakes and then went straight to bed. She woke eight hours later to a text from Jason.  
_'I hope you haven't woken up regretting what happened last night.'_  
_'No, not at all. I still need time though.'_  
_'I'm glad you have no regrets :) Take aslong as you need Aria.'_  
Aria got herself into the shower and ready for school while listening to her iPod which was placed on her dock. Her mom and dad had left for work early so she could play the music as loud as she pleased. She ran down the stairs fifty minutes later and was surprised when Spencer and Emily were sat in her kitchen.  
"Hey!" she smiled. "What are you two doing here?"  
"We were worried! Why didn't you answer you phone last night?!" Spencer shouted.  
"Woah Spence! Calm down. I was probably talking to Jason.."  
"Jason? Aria you have to keep away from him!" Emily warned her.  
"What?" Aria furrowed her brows. "What the hell are you talking about?" She asked as she pulled the fruit bowl closer to her.  
"He can't be trusted!" Emily warned her again.  
Just as Aria was going to reply, her phone in her hand started to buzz. She answered it. "Hi Jason." Aria turned around and began to walk around in a small circle while talking to him.  
Spencer and Emily shot worried looks at each other before keeping close eyes on Aria.  
"He didn't?!" Aria sighed still on the phone to Jason. "He promised me. He promised my parents.. No don't apologise, I needed to know."  
Spencer looked at Emily and furrowed her eyebrows. "I'll see you at school. Thanks for calling me." Aria hung up. "You were saying?" Aria asked as she turned around to her friends.  
"Jason can't be trusted." Emily told her again.  
"What? Of course he can!"  
"No Aria!"  
"Spencer, we thought we couldn't trust Toby and now you're hooking up with him! What's wrong with you two?"  
"We broke into his shed an-.."  
"Wait that was you?" Aria interrupted Spencer.  
"You know?" Spencer questioned.  
"Yeah, he told me last night that someone had broken in. Why would you do that?"  
"Because he's fucking shady and we needed evidence to prove it." Spencer hit her fist on the island in the middle of Aria's kitchen.  
"So you break into his shed?"  
"Aria listen to us! He's got photos of you!" Spencer told Aria as she ran her fingers through her hair.  
"What?" Aria furrowed her eyebrows.  
"Photos of you sleeping." Emily told her.  
"Okay..." Aria struggled to comprehend what they had just told her. "I'll talk to him at school."

Aria got to school and rushed to Jason's office. "Jason?" she called as she knocked and opened his door.  
"Hi. Are you okay?" Jason was sitting at his desk.  
"Yeah I just needed to talk to you about a couple of things."  
"Sit down and we'll talk." Jason smiled at her. She loved his smile.  
"Well first I wanted to talk about Mike.." Aria sat down opposite Jason.  
"Yeah.. well I got to school earlier than usual and saw Mike sneaking out of the window of the finance office. He dropped a wad of cash when he saw me. Luckily we were the only ones at school at that time so I got him to put it back.  
"Did he?" Aria asked.  
"I can't be too sure but if he didn't I can't protect him again. I have a duty as a member of staff to report what I saw if he's caught out by cctv or whatever."  
"No, I understand."  
"Next question?" Jason took a sip from his coffee mug as he kept his eyes on Aria.  
"This one's a pretty sensitive subject.. um.. do you have photos of me? Photos kept in your shed?"  
"Well yeah.."  
"But..but why.. why would you have them? Where did you take them?"  
"I didn't take them. I promise. Ali did. I found a roll of film hidden in her room and I decided to develop it." Jason answered as he took another sip of his coffee. "What a second.. you know who broke into my shed?"  
Aria's breath caught in her throat. Should she rat out her friends? Jason deserved to know. He had watched out for her brother a few times and protected him for his crimes.  
"Not exactly, I got a text from a blocked number saying that 'a creep had got photos of me in his shed.' and I just presumed they were talking about you. Not because you're a creep but because your shed had been broken in to."  
"Ahh.. okay..." Jason didn't fully believe Aria. "You can see the photos if you want.. I sent them to get framed for you this morning. They should be done by 4pm."  
"Yeah.. I'd love to." Aria smiled. "I better get to class anyway. Thanks again. For caring about Mike."  
"It's no problem. Have a good day."  
"You too." Aria smiled as she opened his office door and left.

"Are you okay?" Spencer and Emily both asked as soon as they saw her.  
"I'm fine." Aria answered defensively.  
"No need to get all defensive Aria." an offended Spencer told her.  
"Defensive? You're claiming that Jason's this awful guy who I need to stay clear of you two don't even know him!" Aria ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "I need to get to biology." Aria told them calmly before walking around them and heading straight into her class.

At 5pm Aria met Jason at the cafe near the studios where he had gotten her photos framed.  
"These are beautiful." Aria said amazed at the quality of the photos.  
"Yeah..I didn't know Ali was so artistic."  
"I can't really remember her taking pictures. That's strange. Still getting to know someone when they're gone."  
"Yeah, I've never even seen her hold a camera before..unless she was taking photos of herself."  
"Obviously." Aria giggled quietly. Alison loved herself so much.  
Jason's phone bleeped. "I need to go but I can give you a lift to wherever you need to be first."  
"Um.. no it's okay. I'll call Spencer or.."  
"Okay that's cool. I'll see you around." Jason stood up and walked out of the cafe.

Aria was at Ezra's apartment later that day. He handed her a coffee. "We need to talk." she told him.  
"About?" he asked as he sat next to her.  
"Us."  
"Us? Okay.."  
"I don't know where we're heading and.."  
"And?"  
"I'm not sure whether I want to.."  
"Aria?"  
"This is so hard to say.."  
"Just spit it out."  
Aria shocked at Ezra's harshness - 'spat it out' "I don't want to be with you anymore. I like someone else."  
"You like someone else? You can't just like someone else Aria. Have you cheated on me?!"  
"What?! Of course I can. And I kind of did."  
"Get out, we're over! Now you can run around with this other guy." Ezra took Aria mug from her hands and took it into the kitchen.  
Aria rushed out of his apartment. Although she was sad. She was glad the break up was quick. As she left his building, Aria pulled out her phone and clicked on Jason's number.  
"Hello?" Jason answered after five rings.  
"I'm ready." she told him.  
"Ready?"  
"Ready to talk about us.." Aria smiled.  
"That's good to know. Where are you?"  
"Outside my ex's apartment."  
"Want me to pick you up?"  
"Sure. I'll text you his address."

Jason picked up Aria ten minutes later. "You okay?" he asked as she got into his car.  
"I'm fine." she smiled back.  
"How did your ex take the break up?" he asked as he drove them away.  
"Well I tried to do it nicely but then he got kind of angry that I was taking so long to tell him that I kind of just blurted out that I didn't want to be with him anymore and that I liked someone else. He asked if I cheated. I said sort of and then he kicked me out."  
"Hmmm, sounds like a much easier break up than I've had over the past years."  
"I was surprised it was so fast. I'm happy though." Aria looked at Jason and smiled as he drove her back towards their houses.

Aria invited Jason into her house when he dropped her off. He parked in her driveway as she walked up to unlock the door to her house.  
"Where are you parents?" he asked as he walked through the front door.  
"They went out for dinner with a few of their friends." Aria replied as she opened the fridge in her kitchen.  
"So.." Jason said as Aria handed him a bottle of water.  
"So.." Aria replied with a smile on her face.  
"Us? What is that exactly?" Jason asked as he played with the lid of the bottle.  
"I think it's you and I going on a date and seeing where we want to go from there." Aria smiled.


End file.
